1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal crimping device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Crimp terminals, which are electrically connected to electric wires by being crimped onto end portions of these electric wires, have been conventionally known (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-182957, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-182953, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-252035, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-230043, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-111275, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-203735). Crimping processes applied to those crimp terminals and the end portions of the electric wires are performed by use of terminal crimping devices disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-182953, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-252035, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-230043, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-111275, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2014-203735. Each of the terminal crimping devices feeds the first crimp terminal among crimp terminals chained to one another (a terminal chain body) until it reaches a certain position, and then causes a terminal cutting machine to cut off this crimp terminal from the terminal chain body while causing a first die and a second die to pinch this crimp terminal and an electric wire therebetween to crimp the crimp terminal onto the electric wire.
In such a case, the terminal cutting machine includes a terminal cutting body that has a slit into which a connecting piece of the terminal chain body is inserted. The terminal cutting body utilizes an opening edge at the upper end of the slit as a cutting blade of a crimp terminal. As the crimping process progresses, this terminal cutting body moves downward along the first die and cuts off the crimp terminal from the terminal chain body. Here, before the crimping process is performed, the electric wire is placed on the upper surface of the terminal cutting body, and the electric wire is pressed by an electric wire presser so as to prevent the uplift of the electric wire from this upper surface.
The electric wire in this state is held between the terminal cutting body and the electric-wire presser with the end portion thereof lifted up from an electric-wire connecting portion. In line with the progress of the crimping process (the downward move of the second die toward the first die), the end portion of the electric wire is pressed down toward the electric-wire connecting portion. Consequently, the electric wire is bent between a part thereof held by the terminal cutting body and the electric-wire presser and a part thereof pressed down by the second die, and the thus bent part thereof comes under load. It is then likely that the position of an end portion of the electric wire is displaced relative to the electric-wire connecting portion because of the load acting on the electric wire.